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D 635 
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MESSAGE SENT BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE FARMERS' CONFERENCE 
AT URBANA, ILL, JANUARY 31, 1918. 



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I am very sorry indeed that I can not be present in person at the 
Urbana conference. I should like to enjoy the benefit of the inspira- 
tion and exchange of counsel which I Icnow I should obtain, but in 
the circumstances it has seemed impossible for me to be present, and 
therefore I can only send you a very earnest message expressing my 
interest and the thoughts which such a conference must bring prom- 
inently into every mind. 

I need not tell you, for I am sure you realize as keenly as I do, that 
we are as a Nation in the presence of a great task which demands 
supreme sacrifice and endeavor of every one of us. We can give 
everything that is needed with the greater willingness, and even satis- 
faction, because the object of the war in which we are engaged is the 
greatest that free men have ever undertaken. It is to prevent the 
life of the world from being determined and the fortunes of men 
everywhere affected by small groups of military masters, who seek 
their own interest and the selfish dominion throughout the world of 
the Governments they unhappily for the moment control. You will 
not need to be convinced that it Avas necessary for us as a free people 
to take part in this wa'r. It had raised its evil hand against us. The 
rulers of Germany had sought to exercise their poAver in such a way 
as to shut off our economic life so far as our intercourse with Europe 
was concerned, and to confine our people within the Western Hemi- 
sphere while they accomplished purposes which would have per- 
manently impaired and impeded every process of our national life 
and have put the fortunes of America at the mercy of the Imperial 
Government of Germany. 

^I^^'T^ lo "n y ' REALITY, >'0T MERELY A THREAT. 

This Avas no threat. It had become a reality. Their hand of 
violence had been laid upon our OAvn people and" our OAvn property 
in flagrant violation not only of justice but of the Avell-recognized 
and long-standing covenants of intei'uational hnv and treaty. We 
are fighting, therefore, as truly for the liberty and self-government 
of the United States as if the Avar of our oavii Eevolution had to be 
fought over again : and eA^ery man in every business in the United 
States must knoAv by this time that his whole future fortune lies 
in the balance. Our national life and our whole economic dcA^elop- 
ment Avill pass under the sinister influences of foreign control if we 
do not Avin. We nnist win. therefore, and Ave shall Avin. I need not 
ask you to pledge your lives and fortunes with those of the rest of the 
Nation to the accomplishment ot' that great end. 

43473—18 






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You Avill realize, as I think statesmen on both sides of the water 
realize, that the ciilnunating crisis of the struggle has come and that 
the achievements of this year on the one side or the other must de- 
termine the issue. It has turned out that the forces that fight for 
freedom, the freedom of men all over the world as well as our own, 
depend upon us in an extraordinary and unexpected degree for sus- 
tenance, for the supply of the materials by which men are to live 
and to fight, and it will be our glory when the war is over that we 
have supplied those materials and supplied them itbundantly, and it 
will be all the more glory because in supplying them we have made 
our supreme effort and sacrifice. 

GREAT AGENCIES AT WORK. 

In the tie Id of agriculture we have agencies and instrumentalities, 
fortunately, such as no other government in the world can show. 
The Department of Agriculture is undoubtedly the greatest practical 
and scientific agricultural organization in the world. Its total an- 
nual budget of $46,000,000 has been increased during the last four 
years more than 72 per cent. It has a staff of 18,000, including a 
large number of highly trained experts, and alongside of it stands 
the unique land-grant colleges, which are without example elsewhere, 
and the 69 State and Federal experiment stations. These colleges 
and experiment stations have a total endowment of plant and equip- 
ment of $172,000,000 and an income of more than $35,000,000, with 
10,271 teachers, a resident student body of 125,000, and a vast ad- 
ditional number receiving instruction at their homes. County agents, 
joint officers of the Department of Agriculture and of the colleges, 
are everywhere cooperating with the farmers and assisting them. 
The number of extension workers under the Smith-Lever Act and 
under the recent emergency legislation has grown to 5,500 men and 
women working regularly in the various communities and taking to 
the farmer the latest scientific and practical information. 

Alongside these great public agencies stnnd the very effective vol- 
untary organizations among the farmers themselves which are more 
and more learning the best methods of cooperation and the best 
methods of putting to practical use the assistance derived from gov- 
ernmental sources. The banking legislation of the last two or three 
years has given the farmers access to the great lendable capital of 
ithe country, and it has become the duty both of the men in charge 
of the Federal Reserve Banking System and of the Farm Loan Bank- 
ing System to see to it that the farmers obtain the credit, both short 
term and long term, to which they are not only entitled but which it 
is imperatively necessary should be extended to them if the present 
tasks of the country are to be adequately performed. Both by direct 
purchase of nitrates and by the establishment of plants to produce 
nitrates the Government is doing its utmost to assist in the problem 
of fertilization. The Department of Agriculture and other agencies 
are actively assisting the farmers to locate, safeguard, and secure at 
cost an adequate supply of sound seed. The department has $2,500,- 
000 available for this purpose now and has asked the Congress for 
$6,000,000 more. 



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FARM LAI'.OR AND THE DRAFT. 

The labor problem is one of great difficulty, and some of the best 
agencies of the Nation are addressing themselves to the task of solv- 
ing it, so far as it is possible to solve it. Farmers have not been 
exempted from the draft. I know^ that they would not wish to be. 
I take it for granted they would not wish to be put in a class by 
themselves in this respect. But the attention of the War Depart- 
ment has been very seriously centered upon the task of interfering 
with the labor of the farms as little as possible, and under the new 
draft regulations I believe that the farmers of the country will find 
that their supply of labor is very much less seriously drawn upon 
than it was under the first and initial draft, made before we had our 
present full experience in these perplexing matters. The supply of 
labor in all industries is a matter we must look to and are looking to 
with diligent care. 

RESPONSE OF THE FARMERS. 

And let me say that the stimulation of the agencies I have enumer- 
ated has been responded to by the farmers in splendid fashion. I 
dare say that you are aware that the farmers of this country are as 
efficient as any other farmers in the world. They do not produce 
more per acre than the farmers in Europe. It is not necessary that 
they should do so. It w^ould perhaps be bad economy for them to 
attempt it. But they do produce by two to three or four times more 
per man, per unit of labor and capital, than the farmers of any 
European country. They are more alert and use more labor-saving 
devices than any other farmers in the world. And their response to 
the demands of the present emergency has been in every way 
remarkable. Last spring their planting exceeded by 12,000,000 
acres the largest planting of any previous year, and the yields from 
the crops were record-breaking yields. In the fall of 1917 a wheat 
acreage of 42,170,000 was planted, which was 1,000,000 larger than 
for any preceding year, 3,000,000 greater than the next largest, and 
7,000,000 greater than the preceding five-year average. 

SHOULD EXCEED PAST ACHIEVEIMENTS. 

But I ought to say to you that it is not only necessary that these 
achievements should be repeated, but that they should be exceeded. 
I know what this advice involves. It involves not only labor but 
sacrifice, the painstaking application of everj^ bit of scientific knowl- 
edge and every tested practice that is available. It means the ut- 
most economy, even to the point where the pinch comes. It means the 
kind of concentration and self-sacrifice which is involved in the 
field of battle itself, where the object always looms greater than the 
individual. And yet the Government will help and help in every 
way that is possible. The impression which prevails in some quarters 
that while the Government has sought to fix the prices of foodstuffs 
it has not sought to fix other prices which determine the expenses of 
the farmer is a mistaken one. As a matter of fact, the Government 
has actively and successfully regulated the prices of many funda- 
mental materials underlying all the industries of the country, and 



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has regulated them, not only for the purchases of the Government, 
but also for the purchases of the general public, and I have every 
reason to believe that the Congress will extend the powers of the 
Government in this important and even essential matter, so that the 
tendency to profiteering, which is showing itself in too many quar- 
ters, may be effectively checked. In fixing the prices of foodstuffs 
the Government has sincerely tried to keep the interests of the farmer 
as much in mind as the interests of the communities which are to be 
served, but it is serving mankind as w^ell as the farmer, and every- 
thing in these times of war takes on the rigid aspect of duty. 

America's greaitist opportunity. 

I Avill not appeal to you to continue and reneAv and increase your 
efforts. I do not believe that it is necessary to do so. I believe that 
you will do it without any word or appeal from me, because you 
understand as well as I do the needs and opportunities of this great 
hour when the fortunes of mankind everywhere seem about to be 
determined and when America has the greatest opportunity she has 
ever had to make good her own freedom and in making it good to 
lend a helping hand to men struggling for their freedom everywhere. 
You remember that it was farmers from Avhom came the first shots 
at Lexington, that set aflame the revolution that made America free. 
I hope and believe that the farmers of America Avill willingly and 
conspicuously stand by to win this war also. 

GLAD WE ARE AMERICANS. 

The toil, the intelligence, the energy, the foresight, the self-sacrifice, 
and devotion of the farmers of America Avill. I believe, bring to a 
triumphant conclusion this great last war for the emancipation of 
men from the control of arbitrary government and the selfishness of 
class legislation and control, and then, when the end has come, we 
may look each other in the face and be glad that we are Americans 
and have had the privilege to play such a part. 



WASHINGTON : (JOVICRXMENT I'RI 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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